


Closer

by MonsieurBlueSky (MyChemicalRachel)



Category: Love Victor (TV 2020)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Post-Finale, benji and victor are just mentioned, but i needed to get it out of my head, nothing extreme i promise, this is really short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26031031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyChemicalRachel/pseuds/MonsieurBlueSky
Summary: Set immediately after the finale.Isabel and Armando talk.
Relationships: Benjamin "Benji" Campbell/Victor Salazar, armando salazar/isabel salazar
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55





	Closer

The bed had felt bigger in recent months. In the past few weeks alone, it seemed to grow a little more each night. Now, tonight, it seemed massive.

The air buzzed with thoughts, words, that neither of them seemed able to speak aloud. There was no right place to start and so words failed them.

Long ago, they wouldn't have even needed words. One look would have said everything. But now, as Isabel and Armando avoid each other's eyes across the sea of sheets between them, there's nothing. Silence, broken by sighs of aborted starts.

Eventually Isabel turns off the light and falls back on the bed. Her eyes have started to adjust when she feels Armando settle onto his back next to her. He feels so far away that when he speaks, she startles.

"Did you know?" he asks. That doesn't seem important now, but Isabel figures that at least it's a start.

"No," she admits.

"I wondered," he says, "after Victor's birthday party. Those boys that were here, remember? I figured he's a kid, maybe he was experimenting--"

"Armando!" Isabel chastises, more because it feels like the right thing to do than because she objects. They had experimented when they were his age, too. She supposes it's only natural. But this... This is far from just experimenting. This was something else entirely.

Armando must be following a similar train of thought because she hears him shift on the bed, can feel him looking at her when he says, "Victor is gay."

There is no question in his voice. It's a fact that doesn't ask for approval or explanation. It doesn't make it any easier to understand.

"So what do we do now?"

Isabel breathes, a dry sound like a laugh being pulled through a vacuum cleaner. "What do you mean, Mando? There's nothing we can do about it. You're right; Victor is--" she swallows hard. Swallows her upbringing and her prejudice and her faith and nearly chokes as the words get stuck. Armando waits. In a rush, she spits them out. "Victor is gay. We don't get a choice in the matter, just like your mother didn't get a choice when you decided to marry me."

There's a heavy silence while Armando weighs how to continue; it's a silence Isabel is familiar with. He is going to say something she doesn't like, but he's trying to find a way to word it nicely. "When we got married, my mother made her opinion clear. She said she supported my right to make my own mistakes, but she's always made it clear she isn't fond of you."

Her first reaction is to make a biting remark on how the sentiment is mutual, but Isabel is looking past that. "Are you saying we should support Victor's right to date who he wants, but make it clear we don't approve?"

It jostles the bed when Armando shrugs. "I'm just saying, we have options on how we handle this."

Isabel recalls her wedding day. It was perfect in almost every way. The ceremony was beautiful, she got to marry the man she loved... And afterward, at the reception, she overheard her new mother in law telling Armando what a huge mistake he was making. She rolls over to meet Armando's eyes in the dark. "Your relationship with your mother hasn't been the same since you married me, but you did it anyway."

"And I would do it again," Armando says.

Isabel smiles. "That's not the point. What if your relationship with Victor was ruined by this? Because you couldn't support him?"

"But I'm not sure I can support him," Armando admits. "The church says it's a sin."

"The church says divorce is a sin, too, and look at us."

"Whoa, hey," Armando argues, "we're not getting divorced. We're not there yet."

Isabel smiles sadly. "It doesn't mean we won't end up there."

Armando rolls onto his back and Isabel watches the shadow of his jaw, the curve of his lips, and wonders if they will ever be the way they used to be. "Would you be okay with it?" Armando asks quietly. His brows are drawn down, making his eyes look closed. "He would bring a boy home, introduce him as a boyfriend. They would go on dates and kiss and--" now Armando does close his eyes, shutting down the trail of his thoughts. "You would really be okay with that?"

Isabel imagines it. She thinks of Victor bringing that boy from his party home again, this time saying "my boyfriend" instead of coworker. She imagines them kissing, holding hands, smiling...

"I used to think that love was easy," Isabel says. "With you, it was always easy. Until it wasn't. I think if Victor can find someone he loves, who gives him all the love he deserves in return, then I would be a terrible mother if I didn't support it."

"Even if the person he loves is a boy?"

"I'm not saying it would be easy," Isabel says, "but if we love him, don't we owe it to him to try?"

Armando sighs. "It's hard enough to be a Hispanic boy in this world. To be a gay Hispanic boy? Isa, I just want things to be easier."

"For him," Isabel asks, "or for you?"

"Both," Armando says. "I won't lie and say I'm not worried about the things people will say about us. Oh," Armando covers his face and groans, "Dios, what are my parents going to say?" But he abruptly shakes his head. "No. Nope. That is a problem for another night."

Isabel laughs and in the silence that settles over them, the air feels lighter. Her arm brushes Armando's and, though it's a small moment, she feels she can finally breathe again. She can reach him, touch him, without an ocean between them. For the first time in months, he is next to her.

In the dark, she reaches over to take his hand.

Nothing here is fixed. There are shattered remains of a life they once had scattered around; bits of a once-happy marriage, of a son growing and learning to be himself, of a daughter still figuring out the terrible ways of the world. No, nothing is fixed. But tonight it all seems just a little less broken.


End file.
